Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 2:6

"But one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" — Hebrews 2:6 (ASV)

A quotation from Ps 8:4–6 is introduced by the unusual verb “testified” (GK 1371). Only here in the NT does it introduce a quotation from Scripture. More often the word means to “testify solemnly” and shows that the words following it are to be taken with full seriousness. The author tells us neither the place where the words are found nor who said them. Consistently he regards all that is in his Bible as coming from God and puts no emphasis on the human author. He quotes the passage exactly, and his whole letter shows that he was very familiar with the Psalms. His quotation is exact, with one line omitted. The psalmist is concerned with both the insignificance and the greatness of the human race. There is, of course, no difference in meaning between “man” and “son of man” in this verse. The parallelism of Hebrew poetry requires that the two be taken in much the same sense; and in any case it is quite common in Hebrew idiom for “the son of” to denote quality, as, for example, “the son of strength” means “the strong man.” So “son of man” means one who has the quality of being a human being (this is different from Jesus’ self-title in the gospels, “Son of Man”).

God is said to be “mindful of” (GK 3630) and to “care for” (GK 2170) people. “Mindful” has the sense of remembering with a view to helping. It includes total dedication to God, concern for the brethren, and true self-judgment (cf. 13:3). The psalmist goes on to ask what there is about humankind that the great God should stoop to help them.